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Matt Kenseth emerged victorious after an emotional rollercoaster of a race at Phoenix Raceway. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Opinion: NASCAR's promise of a 'Game 7 moment' delivered at Phoenix

The Can-Am 500 had everything a fan could have possibly wanted

November 12, 2017

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There has never been a better Game 7.

Well, NASCAR doesn’t exactly have Game 7s and they don’t technically play anything, but the Can-Am 500 at Phoenix Raceway was exactly what the sanctioning body had in mind when it first introduced the elimination playoff format on the eve of the 2014 season.

The penultimate race of 2017 was a rollercoaster of emotions that overdelivered on every hearty expectation placed on it over the course of the weekend. It was one of those events that you couldn't help but feel like you were having an out of body experience over. It was often exciting, at times surreal and always exhilarating.

A week after deciding that there was no longer a place for him in the industry he has called home for 20 years, 2003 champion Matt Kenseth won for what could be the final time at the highest level of the sport.

He did so by passing Chase Elliott with 12 laps to go, denying Elliott his first victory and by default, a chance to compete for his own championship.

But that came only a half-hour or so after Elliott essentially, but not overtly, exacted payback against Denny Hamlin for an incident that took place at Martinsville Speedway two weeks prior. Hamlin shoved Elliott out of the lead and into the wall with three laps remaining that chilly night under the lights, but couldn’t close out and capitalize on the moment.

He paid for it on Sunday.

Hamlin had solidly raced his way into a Championship Race transfer spot until Elliott drove hard into his new rival out of turn four en route to the front with 38 laps to go.

It wasn’t even close to the overly aggressive move that cost him a spot a Martinsville, but Elliott no doubt raced Hamlin with a chip on his shoulder. Even if Elliott couldn’t hold off Kenseth over the final 15 laps and race into Homestead, he at least made sure that his antagonist couldn’t either.

Right or wrong, intentional or not, it was a full-circle narrative worthy of a Hollywood script.

And this doesn’t even include Brad Keselowski, the benefactor of all this drama, who entered the weekend with a sizeable 19-point advantage but coughed it all away with a dreadful performance outside of the top 10 over the first two-thirds of the race.

But somehow, with the Elliott vs. Hamlin narrative playing itself out to a poetic crescendo, there was the 2012 champion holding on for dear life and living to contend for one more week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He joins 2014 champion Kevin Harvick, 2015 champion Kyle Busch and winningest-driver of the 2017 season in the form of Martin Truex Jr. for a star-studded date with stock car destiny.

And for Kenseth, he reminded the world just how unjust it is that he doesn't have an offer for a competitive ride next season. He is one of the sport's all-time greats and this should make every team owner and manufacturer re-evaluate their business models this winter.

All told, there may have been better overall races in recent memory, but given the personalities involved and everything at stake, this was as compelling as anything NASCAR has ever sanctioned.

And this again is to the credit of NASCAR itself for creating a format that lends itself to the big moment.

Many of us criticized Brian France back in 2014 for his verbal use of the "Game 7 moment," declaring that Game 7s are only memorable because they’re naturally occurring and are a rarity. But the decisionmakers in Daytona and Charlotte never wavered, continuing to tweak the format with the addition of stages and playoff points.

The final product on Sunday was the most entertaining NASCAR race in a long time. The Can-Am 500 had a little bit of everything: triumph, defeat, retribution and exaltation.

It was NASCAR’s version of a Game 7 and it delivered on everything it promised.